I recently had a young woman come in seeking an appraisal on an item she inherited from her grandmother. As she unzipped first her purse, then a pocket in the purse, then a silk pouch containing the item, she explained that this was a pearl necklace that her grandfather had brought to her grandmother during the second world war. He had always claimed that it was EXTREMELY valuable and the utmost care should be given when wearing it and storing it.

I put a padded jewelry tray out for her to place the necklace in. My heart immediately began to sink. She apologized for their condition explaining that due to their age they were dirty and worn. Into the tray she placed a 24 inch strand of imitation pearls. How did I know so quickly? The paint was peeling off the plastic beads.

When I told her that the strand was essentially valueless, she was at first disbelieving, then dismayed, and then perplexed. She said her entire life she had been told of this extremely valuable strand of pearls her grandfather had acquired. Having appraised many such pearl strands from during the war, I was skeptical…but I was empathetic to her situation. I told her, if she was sure there was such a strand, that as she cleaned out the house she should leave no stone unturned. I encouraged her to look in every coffee can of rags in the garage, thoroughly search through the frozen veggies, dig through the old clothes and linens. Check everywhere.

Sure enough, a month later, she returned and tossed a strand of graduated pearls on my desk in a very casual manner. I looked at the strand…took it over to the microscope and looked again. Then I made a recommendation I rarely make. I told her to send them to GIA to have them x-rayed to see if they were natural pearls. Most of the pearls we see today are cultured and have a nucleated bead in the center that can be visible when looking down the drill hole. If it cannot be seen down the drill hole, the only way to determine if the pearl is cultured is to have the strand x-rayed. The difference in cost between a cultured strand and a natural strand can be enormous. So…off the strand went to GIA.

Sure enough…the pearls were natural, rare, and extremely valuable.